Section 46. Projects for which a refund is payable
1. Any person who has laid, re-laid or extended an approved public road or approved public installation for transporting water or waste water may claim to have his costs refunded pursuant to the provisions of this Act. Private claims for a refund of costs are subject to a condition that the project has been imposed in accordance with section 67. The term "road" means a roadway with pavement and turning places, path, cycle track, public footpath or public place. No refund may be claimed of the costs of a stretch of public road from which private exit roads are not permitted.
2. Moreover, a refund may be claimed by a person who in accordance with a zoning plan or a building development plan has provided land for or developed a common exit road, common courtyard, other area common to several properties or a green belt along an industrial area.
Finally, anyone who has laid, altered or extended private installations for transporting water or waste water in an area that is included in a zoning plan or a building development plan, may claim a refund of costs.
Section 47. The refund unit
1. The total costs relating to a stretch where a continuous development, alteration or extension of projects mentioned in section 46, subsection 1, takes place shall be distributed between the areas which, pursuant to section 49, are liable to pay a refund to the unit. If the conditions of the terrain or a change in the character of the area bordering the stretch or other special
circumstances so indicate, the municipality may decide that the costs shall be distributed on the basis of another unit when this is found necessary in order to prevent a clearly unfair distribution of costs among the properties affected by the project.
2. In the case of projects mentioned in section 46, subsection 2, the project described in the plan constitutes a unit.
Section 48. Costs that are refundable
The person entitled to a refund may reclaim all costs necessarily incurred in order to complete the project.
Where ground is acquired for a road or the construction is carried out to a greater width than that specified in section 67, the costs shall be reduced in proportion to the ratio between the width for which a refund may be claimed, and the actual width. If, as a consequence of the greater width, it becomes necessary to remove a building or installation, the amount of compensation and the costs of demolition and clearing up are not refundable.
If pipes with a greater diameter than that specified in section 67 are laid, the costs shall be reduced in proportion to the ratio between the pipe diameter for which a refund may be claimed and the actual diameter of the pipe.
Section 49. Areas liable to pay a refund
1. A refund for projects mentioned in section 46, subsection 1, is charged to an undeveloped area that may be built on, and that because of the project obtains or may obtain lawful connection to a road, water pipe or sewer pursuant to section 67. An undeveloped part of a developed property is also regarded as an undeveloped area when the undeveloped part can be built on
independently. The same applies to a part of a developed property that cannot be built on independently, if existing buildings constitute less than two thirds of the permitted utilization.
Finally, an area with buildings which in the opinion of the municipality are due for demolition or which for other reasons have a value clearly lower than the value of the site they occupy, is also regarded as undeveloped.
A refund is also to be charged to developed land that has been granted a temporary
postponement of the fulfilment of its obligations pursuant to section 67, if such obligations are fulfilled through the project.
2. The refund for projects mentioned in section 46, subsection 2, is to be charged to the areas that they are intended to serve according to the zoning plan or the building development plan. In the case of areas that are wholly or partly developed, the same rules as in subsection 1 shall apply.
Section 50. Distribution factors. Valuation. Additional refund
1. The costs for which a refund may be claimed are to be apportioned among the areas that are liable to pay a refund, one half being allotted to each of the factors building plot area and permitted utilization. When the utilization has not been determined in an approved plan, the municipality will decide the presumably permitted utilization.
The Municipal Council may, for the whole or part of the municipality, determine another ratio between the factors or that other factors shall be applied.
2. The amount of the refund that may be imposed on the individual property shall be limited to the added value that the project is assumed to confer on the property. The owner or the lessee may demand that the added value be determined by valuation carried out by three experts appointed by the district court. The demand for valuation must be submitted to the municipality not later than three weeks after notification of the municipality 's decision pursuant to section 53 has been received. The valuation may be reviewed by three new experts appointed by the Court of
Appeal. A claim for a review may be presented by those affected financially and must be submitted not later than three weeks after notification of the result of the valuation has been received. The municipality may, pursuant to section 31 of the Public Administration Act, grant reinstatement of proceedings if the said time limit of three weeks is exceeded. The person who demands valuation shall bear the costs of the valuation proceedings. The valuation committee may decide on another distribution of the costs. This decision may not be appealed.
If as a result of the provision in the first paragraph not all the costs pursuant to section 48 are covered in respect of one or more of the properties, the refund creditor may demand that the amount or amounts that are not covered be distributed among the other properties in accordance with the provisions of subsection 1. It is a condition that each of the properties on which an additional refund has been imposed must be assumed to have an added value at least as great as the sum of the amounts to be refunded by the property. The provisions of the first paragraph apply correspondingly. The time limit for claiming a valuation begins to run from the date notification of an additional refund is received.
Section 51. Right to realization of property
A landowner who thinks that his area of land cannot be built on in a financially justifiable manner if it is to be burdened with the refund imposed may claim that the developer purchase the area. The claim must be submitted not later than three months after receiving the final demand for a refund. The developer is obliged to issue a summons for a judicial assessment in order to determine the purchase sum.
Section 52. Approval of plans
Before the project is started, the developer shall prepare plans on a map, together with an estimate of the costs. The developer shall indicate on the map which properties may benefit from the installation. The developer shall send the material to the municipality for approval, with a copy to affected landowners or lessees. The parties concerned may submit an opinion to the municipality within three weeks of receiving the material. The municipality may require to be supplied with binding quotations for the execution of the project, if relevant obtained by competitive tender.
Section 53. Preliminary calculation of the refund
Before the municipality makes a decision concerning a preliminary calculation of the refund, the persons financially affected shall be sent for comment a provisional refund map showing the areas liable to pay a refund and specifying the size and utilization of the said areas. They shall also be sent an estimate of costs and a provisional summary of their distribution among the areas liable to pay a refund, and shall be informed of the right to demand a valuation pursuant to section 50, subsection 2. The persons concerned may submit their comments to the municipality within three weeks of receiving the material.
When the material pursuant to section 52 is available and the time limit laid down in the first paragraph has expired, the municipality shall as soon as possible decide which areas are liable to pay a refund and, as the case may be, decide which refund unit pursuant to section 47, subsection 1, second sentence, and which utilization presumably permitted pursuant to section 50, subsection 1, first sentence, shall apply. If the municipality makes a decision pursuant to section 47, subsection 1, second sentence, the reason shall be stated.
Section 54. When the project may be started
Unless it is otherwise decided by the municipality in a particular case where importance should be attached to the nature of the project and the significance that proceeding with it has for the project, the right to claim a refund lapses if the project is started before the material pursuant to section 52 has been approved by the municipality.
Section 55. Determination of the refund
When the work has been completed, an account shall be drawn up with the necessary vouchers.
Private refund creditors shall send the account together with the vouchers to the municipality for checking.
The municipality shall as soon as possible provisionally determine the amount that may be claimed as a refund, and distribute it among the areas liable to pay a refund. The draft shall be sent for comment to the persons liable to pay a refund. A decision on the refund shall subsequently be made by the municipality. The decisions in the case made pursuant to section 53 are binding on the person who makes the decision on a refund. The decision shall be notified to the persons
concerned, with notice of the time limit for institution of legal proceedings pursuant to section 58.
Section 56. Due date of payment
The refund amount falls due for payment five weeks after the persons liable to pay a refund have been notified of the decision thereon.
In respect of an area which is liable to pay a refund pursuant to section 49, subsection 1, second and third sentences, the amount of the refund does not, however, fall due before division or
building has been completed.
If the owner (lessee) so wishes, a refund amount that may be claimed by the public authorities may be paid over a maximum period of five years in annual instalments with ten per cent interest per annum on the amount outstanding at any time. The King may determine a higher or lower rate of interest than that laid down in the previous sentence.
If as a result of a temporary prohibition against building, or for any other special reason unrelated to the affairs of the persons liable to pay a refund, the area cannot for the time being be utilized in the manner stipulated in the obligation to pay a refund, payment of the refund amount, or the relevant part of it, as the case may be, may not be claimed before the opportunity for such utilization occurs.
From the date that payment is due, the refund debtor is obliged to pay interest on the amount overdue at the current rate. The Act of 17 December 1976 No. 100 relating to interest on overdue payment, etc. applies correspondingly. If the date for payment of a refund is postponed, the refund amount shall be adjusted in accordance with the consumer price index from the time the persons liable to pay a refund have been notified until the date that payment is due.
Section 57. Refund debtor, legal charge
The person who owns the area that is liable to pay a refund when the decision on a refund is made is responsible for payment. Any claim for a refund that has been finally determined is secured by a legal charge on the area liable to pay a refund or – if the area has not been separated by
division proceedings – on the property of which the area is a part. The claim for a refund is enforceable by execution.
When the land is leased out, the lessee, unless it is otherwise agreed, is responsible for payment if the land is leased out by a heritable lease or for so long a period that at least 30 years of the tenancy remain after the claim or any part of it has fallen due. The same applies if the lessee by agreement has the right to claim that the lease be extended for so long a period that the total remaining period of tenancy, if the lease is extended, will be at least 30 years.
Section 58. Legal proceedings
Legal proceedings to test the legality of the refund decision must be instituted not later than two months after notification of the decision. Reinstatement of proceedings may not be granted when the time limit has been exceeded.
Any landowners concerned who have not been made parties through a summons shall be notified by the court and be given a time limit of three weeks within which to intervene as parties.
If the decision on a refund is declared invalid, it shall be wholly rescinded and remitted to the municipality for a new hearing.